Last week on Oct. 10, we attended an awards luncheon hosted by the MountainWest Capital Network, honoring Utah’s Top 100 fastest growing companies.  The show took place in the ballroom of the Grand America Hotel in SLC and there we got to see our company, BKA Content, recognized as the 61st fastest growing company in the state of Utah!  While this is our third year being in the Top 100, it never feels any less significant due to all the hard work that goes into getting us there year after year.

The Event

The event started with an address by the governor, followed by a short presentation from Ron McMillan about earning and giving respect to those around us. Then came the countdown – It’s always exciting to take everyone’s guesses of what number we’ll be and then wait for our logo to come up on the screen.  I’m always a little nervous the presenter will botch pronouncing our company name, but in three years we haven’t had any issues on that end (knock on wood).

”Utah is a leading state both in the number of startups and the number of companies that survive their first five years. This annual event is a great ​opportunity to celebrate t​hose innovators, business owners, and entrepreneurs who keep our communities vibrant and strong.”​ – Gov. Gary Herbert

This year, we sent Drew Allen (our VP of Sales) up to collect the award and shake the governor’s hand. This was a really hard decision, and in no way diminishes the incredible impact that all of our other employees have had on our success.  We have so many deserving members of our team we could send up, but we felt that with all that Drew has done to bring in new business over the last 4-5 years, he’s been instrumental in helping us hit the sales numbers we’ve needed to get us into this elite group. I can’t say enough good things about the initiative, drive and hard work he’s put into getting BKA to where it is now.

We hope to attend many more shows like this so that we can deservedly honor the rest of our team members for their limitless contributions. It truly is a group effort.

The “Wall”-Stars

On another note, one thing that we’ve done each year is commemorate a little spot on one of our office walls for this specific award.  Since most of our walls are covered in chalk paint, this has been a fun exercise for me. The first year we won the award felt like an explosion of excitement, like our little startup was really taking off and flexing its muscles.

 

Last year, with it being our second year, I really felt validated. Like the first year wasn’t just a fluke, but that we had actually “created” something special.

 

 

This year I haven’t finished my drawing, but with it being our third year and now having a trifecta of awards, it seems fitting to think we’re creating something of a “legend” here…

 

 

Business wisdom, power and courage never looked so good!  (Follow our Instagram to see the final result). Yes, there are a bunch of nerds here in the office in case you were wondering.

Group Effort

When it comes down to it, winning an award like this is only made possible by the amazing people behind the scenes. Our virtual BKA family consists of 16 extraordinary employees, hundreds of excellent writers/editors, and thousands of awesome clients.  I literally cannot say enough about each group and how much they mean to Greg and me.

We legitimately love and care about our employees and think they each bring something unique and crucial to the company. If it were up to me, I’d hang out with all of you every weekend (which means you are probably very glad it’s not actually up to me).

Our writers and editors are the best in the business, not only in the quality of their craft but also in character. Many of you have been here for multiple years and have seen and been a crucial part of the growth of BKA. We consider you family and always want to know how we can make the BKA experience better for you.

Lastly, we’ve developed relationships with our clients that extend beyond just high-quality content and order fulfillment; we consider them good friends. We are all about long-term partnerships and custom solutions to get you exactly what you need.

We appreciate each of you, and hope to add to our growing family throughout the next year.  We are truly grateful for you all!

Sincerely,
Matt and Greg Secrist

Every good SEO knows that keyword research is an essential part of coming up with relevant and competitive topics for creating great content.

However, not all keyword research tools or methods are created equal. Some methods can point you in the right direction but lack the deep analytics that SEO’s can really benefit from.

SEMrush is one of the most well-known keyword research platforms in the industry. The world’s leading companies such as Disney, Amazon, Ebay, and more choose SEMrush for their keyword research.

Good tools often come at a higher price, but we have great news! BKA Content has partnered with SEMrush to offer customers 20% off of their annual plans!

When you consider all of the features you get with SEMrush, it’s easy to see that 20% off is an incredible deal. Here are a few features that we like to highlight as they relate to content creation:

Analyze Your Competitor’s Keywords

SEMrush has an advertising research feature which gives you access to your competitor’s top performing keywords. Why is this helpful? It’s helpful because it can show you which words are worth going after based on how competitive they are.

Too often companies try going after keywords that are unattainable in their content. This feature helps you to zero in on keywords that are much more realistic to win.

 

Keyword Research

SEMrush allows you greater insight into the keywords that you want to target and even keywords that you haven’t thought of targeting. The keyword research dashboard shows you CPC, volume, the number of results, trend, and ad copy information for each queried term.

The dashboard will also show you which of the biggest players on the web are targeting and using each keyword, which can be extremely helpful in deciding if it’s a keyword worth targeting in your content.

Our favorite feature is the ability to gather related keywords and phrase matches. The related words are ranked by Bing and Google as well as providing you with a list of different synonyms and variations relevant to the queried keyword to help you grow your keyword pool. These new ideas also help you to better know how to use keywords in your content.

 

Knowledge is Power

The amount of information that SEMrush puts together is pretty impressive. Don’t believe me? Put your domain into the box below to see just how powerful SEMrush is when it comes to data collecting and presentation.

Conclusion

If you are not using a keyword research tool, or if you are unhappy with your current keyword platform, BKA Content makes it easy to switch with our 20% discount on all SEMrush annual plans.

Using SEMrush can only improve your SEO efforts, so what are you waiting for?

Writers are just like everyone else in the world using January as a time for setting new goals and accomplishing at least 5 percent of them throughout the year. As a group, writers tend to be perfectionists, so all the goals that aren’t met have a tendency to grate on us until we want to pull our hair out and scream.

At BKA, we decided to hold ourselves accountable for our goals this year and put them out there publicly. Here is our list of the top 10 resolutions from our writers.

Read More Books

Writers also have a tendency to be readers, and we fill our spare time with even more words. Many of us have a goal to read more books this year than we did last year, whether it be fiction, non-fiction or, in my case, the Kindergarten readers that come home from school with my 5-year-old.

Write Something That’s Not for Work

So many of our writers love to write things outside of work. Some are working on novels, others write short stories for magazines or other publications, and some just want to keep in touch with old friends through letters and email. No matter what we’re writing, it’s clear that we communicate best through the written word.

Write More for Work

BKA is getting busy, and many of our writers want to beat their personal best by setting high word count goals and improving grammar and vocabulary skills.

Better Oral Hygiene

On a totally unrelated note, one writer wants to be better at flossing, rather than just buying floss. Let’s be honest, we can probably all fit into that category.

Better Posture

It’s amazing how tough the strain is on your neck and back when you sit at a computer all day, but when you’re in the zone, it’s hard to focus on your posture. We are determined to start small over here by sitting up straight in our chairs at least once a day.

Be More Present

This one isn’t just exclusive to writers. Many of our writers (myself included) want to cut back on social media time and be more present in the moment. You know that when you find yourself looking for a “like” button in your emails, you probably spend too much time on Facebook.

Less Time Online

When you browse the Internet for information for your job, it’s easy to get distracted by retargeting ads and every article that catches your eye. Many of us have goals to spend less time online and more time with the people who are physically here in our lives.

Earlier Bedtimes

When the kids are asleep, and the house is quiet, it’s so hard to go to bed and give it up for the day. BUT the late hours and early mornings are tough on the mind and the body, so we are setting goals to go to bed before 2 AM each night. Maybe eventually we’ll even move that up to midnight.

Be Thankful

With the stresses of everyday life, it’s easy to get caught up in all the things that are going wrong. One writer set the goal to find something to be thankful for every morning. I think this is one that we could all use if we want to be more focused on the good in life.

Serve Someone Every Day

Even when you’re busy, it’s amazing how much energy you can get when you take the time to do something for someone else. Serving doesn’t have to just be about other people. Many of our writers set goals to serve themselves and hit their own personal objectives. Some examples are:

• Hit weight loss goals
• Learn more about investing
• Spend more time with the toddlers at home
• Grow a garden
• Learn a foreign language
• Work on family history
• Learn how to knit
• Complete a service project once a month

So, there you have the complete list of resolutions from the writers at BKA. Whether we meet these goals or not, we are firm believers that setting targets and working toward them makes us all better people in the long run. What are your New Year’s resolutions? Comment below!

Special thanks to Deborah B., Chantelle S., Carly P., Irene C., Amber M., Claudia C., Rebekah S. Daneen H., Beth W., and Shelly P, for their help in putting this together!